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Religion, Law and Social Stability in Australia This Paper Considers Religion, Law and Social Stability in Australia I urge then, first of all that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving should be offered for everyone, for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live peaceful and quiet lives with all devotion and propriety.1 This paper considers religion, religious tolerance and the law and their importance in maintaining social stability in Australia. In order to address that question, the paper will very briefly consider the influence of religion in the foundation and development of Australia before considering the place of religion in contemporary Australian society. With this background, the paper will then consider the extent to which religion and the law find themselves in conflict in Australia before expressing some views on the implication of those conflicts for Australia’s social stability. In many ways, contemporary Australia appears to be a model of religious tolerance. The European colonisation of Australia began in 1788 as the result of a decision by the English parliament to establish a new penal colony. When New South Wales was first colonised Governor Phillip took a particularly sectarian oath of office as governor by swearing “allegiance to the King and to the protestant succession, whilst repudiating Romish beliefs in the transubstantiation of the Eucharist.”2 Subsequent early governors took an oath of office which also included these words. Although a significant number of the convicts transported to the new colony were both Irish and Catholic, despite many very polite requests, it was 28 years before the Colonial Office in Britain allowed official Catholic chaplains into the colony and it was only after 1820 that Catholic convicts were no longer often forced to attend Anglican services.3 Given that background it is remarkable, in many respects, that when the colonies federated only 80 years later the new Australian Commonwealth’s Constitution specifically eschewed an establishment religion4 The overt sectarianism which was prevalent, most obviously in employment practices, in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s has really disappeared5 and it is difficult to imagine that very basic religious freedom to worship within a person’s own faith tradition would be impinged in Australia. A comprehensive demographic study of more than 230 countries and territories conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2010 estimated that there were then 5.8 billion religiously affiliated adults and children around the world which represented 84% of the 2010 world population of 6.9 billion. On these figures worldwide, more than eight-in-ten people identified with a religious group.6 Statistical evidence 1 1 Tim 2:1-2 New Jerusalem Bible (NJB). Unless otherwise specified all references to scripture in this paper will be to the NJB. 2 Roy Williams, Post God Nation? How religion fell off the radar in Australia – and what might be done to get it back on. (ABC Books, 2015) 28 3 Ibid 29 4 Australian Constitution s116 5 This is a major change. As Roy Williams writes in In God They Trust, (Bible Society, 2013 ) 20 “[U]ntil the 1970s sectarianism was rife, and Catholics were a mistrusted minority. To be labelled a “tyke” or a “mick” or a “papist” was often a barrier to advancement in the professions, and in some government departments as well.” 6 Pew Forum, “The Global Religious Landscape”, December 18, 2012 http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/ 1 supports the view that religion is growing and will continue to grow globally such that it is projected that about 9-in-10 people will be affiliated with religion in 2030 compared with 8- in-10 in 1970, according to the World Religion Database.7 At the same time human mobility is at historically high levels and so religious minorities are very common in most parts of the world. This presents many societies with the challenge of how seriously to take the protection of religious liberty. Whilst the religious landscape of Australia is a constantly evolving one, Australia certainly has deep historical Christian roots 8 and a very substantial majority of Australians continue to identify themselves with religious traditions when asked. From the first census in 1911, the majority of Australians have identified as Christians.9 Whilst this affiliation has been declining from 96% in 1911 to 61% in 2011 the Christian faith traditions continue to be dominant in Australia although the numbers of adherents of other faiths and of 'No Religion' have been increasing. Between 2001 and 2011 the proportion of the Australian population identifying with a Christian faith tradition fell from 68% in 2001 to 61% in 2011 and this trend was also evident in the two most commonly reported denominations: Catholicism and Anglicanism. In 2001, 27% of the population reported an affiliation to Catholicism and this had fallen to 25% of the population in 2011. The decline was slightly larger for Anglicans falling from 21% of the Australian population in 2001 to 17% in 2011. Whilst these large denominations experienced falls, some of the smaller Christian denominations increased over this period. In particular the number of Pentecostals increased by one-fifth from 1.0% of the population in 2001 to 1.1% in 2011. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of people reporting a faith tradition other than-Christianity increased markedly, from around 0.9 million to 1.5 million, that represented a growth from 4.9% in 2001 to 7.2% of the total Australian population in 2011. Buddhism was the most popular (2.5% of the population) followed by Islam (2.2%) and Hinduism (1.3%). The greatest growth was in, Hinduism (growing by 189% in the decade from 2001 to 275,500, followed by Islam (growing by 69% in the same period to 476,300) and Buddhism (which grew by 48% to 529,000 people). The numbers of 'No Religion' respondents also increased substantially, from 15% of the population in 2001 to 22% in 2011. The growth was strongest among the young, with 28% of those aged 15-34 reporting no religious affiliation. Over half of the overseas-born population (56%) reported a Christian denomination with Catholicism (24%) and Anglicanism (12%) being the most popular. Nineteen percent of those Australians born overseas-born reported non-Christian religions with Buddhism (6.8%), Islam (5.4%) and Hinduism (4.3%) being the most common and reflecting the increasing number of migrants from non-European backgrounds. The overseas born population reported 'No religion' (20%) 7 Brian Grim, “If Policy Makers Cared About Data, They’d Care About Freedom of Religion or Belief” 29 September 2014 http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/cornerstone/if-policy-makers-cared-about-data-they- d-care-about-freedom-of-religion-or-belief-forb 8 A detailed examination of the influence of Christianity is well beyond this short paper but a good survey can be found in Williams n2 above 1-141 9 Australian Bureau of Statistics report “2071.0 - Reflecting a Nation: Stories from the 2011 Census, 2012– 20139 http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Lookup/2071.0main+features902012-2013 2 at a slightly lower level than did the Australian population as a whole (22%).10 The fact that Australia continues to welcome about 190,000 migrants each year under the official Migration Programme, that immigration levels can change and that there are, of course, no religious tests for immigrant means that the attitudes of a not insubstantial percentage of the population cannot be predicted and change each year. Whilst Australia is often described as being in a “post-Christian” era,11 it is quite clear that a very substantial proportion of the Australian population continue to consider themselves to be Christians and that Australia continues to grow in religious diversity. To a visitor to Australia, in 2015, many outward signs would suggest a strong respect for religious freedom: there is Federal and State government funding for religious schools, there are two national Catholic universities (The University of Notre Dame Australia and the Australian Catholic University), churches and other places of worship are prominent in cities, suburbs and towns and are generally well maintained and there are many hospitals, charities, retirement homes, clubs and other institutions operated by religious organisations which are an everyday feature of Australian life. Religious people do not face threats to their life and property as they do in Iraq or Syria or many other places in the world.12 Outward appearances can prove quite deceptive and the views of those of religious faith and particularly those of the author’s faith tradition, Catholicism, are subject to regular attack often because of their faith. The former High Court judge and leading Australian intellectual, the Honourable Dyson Heydon AC QC, has made the following observation: Until about the 1960s Australian society was marked by sectarianism. It took several forms. For example, particularly in country towns, Catholics were derisively referred to in non-Catholic circles; perhaps the opposite position also prevailed. Professional firms were to some extent organised along sectarian lines: Catholic firms employed Catholics and no-one else, Presbyterian firms employed Presbyterians and no-one else, and Catholics were not easily employable in other non-Catholic firms. In due course, all that changed. There had been very few Catholic judges in New South Wales before the McGirr Government came into office in 1941; since then there have been many, including
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